June 23rd Southern Minnesota Storm Chase - Shelf Cloud
06-23-09 CHASE LOG: MN
I went with Donya Gjerdingen to southern Minnesota to get out ahead of an quickly approaching severe thunderstorms with a massive shelf cloud. We left Northfield, Minnesota and drove down to east of Faribault, Minnesota on Highway 60 near the eastern shore of Cannon Lake. Here, the storm approached us with a nice looking shelf cloud but was weakening and tending to fall apart as the gust front outran the main precipitation core. We left this area and went further south to the Hope, Minnesota exit where the gust front and shelf cloud overtook us with winds only around 40 mph as the line continued to weaken. Overall, not a great chase by any means but it was close and nice to see a decent shelf cloud, which I have not seen very many of so far this year.
Shelf cloud about to overtake Owatonna, Minnesota near Cabela's. Notice the smoke from a fire rising up into the storm.
A lot of dust being blown around as the gust front approaches. Dirt and dust was very thick and limiting the visibility as a result.
Underneath the shelf cloud after the feature overtook us. Still windy as you can see the grass bent over in the ditch.
More photos from this day can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157621522145947/
